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Mixing art and science: A bridge over troubled waters or a bridge too far?
Abstract
Nursing commentators exhort that nursing practice is both an art and a science, without really considering the differing philosophical assumptions implicit in the divide. This mixture of competing ideals and philosophies is set within a rigid, fundamentalist medical model of healthcare that compels empirical evidence to be the foundation of decision-making. Some of this evidence is derived from within the emergent methodologies of the social sciences, but there is little credence given to the vast resource of the humanities. The resulting plethora of methodologies has created warring factions between the extremes of the quantitative and qualitative researcher. Beyond this argument is the certainty that the uniting feature of all research is language and, as Bakhtin suggests, ‘language is only in the dialogic interaction of those who make use of it’. To understand how art and science can intertwine to create a human science, an exploration of how nursing is embedded in the heteroglossia of a diverse society is needed. My own developmental journey into the world of research illustrates the iteration of multiple influences to find an explanation that feels comfortable. If we taught health carers to think creatively rather than respond unimaginatively, citing evidence as the rationale, perhaps the current paradox of individualised patient care appearing to consist of doing universal tasks to a named person could be avoided.
... A further development here is the critical scrutiny of biographical, and particularly autobiographical writing, in which the self stands back and attempts to read and analyse the text as if from a distance. Autoethnography is described by Ellis and Bochner (2000, 739) as 'a genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural; it is also particularly suitable for exploring vulnerabilities of body, mind and spirit (Muncey 2006). Despite some academic suspicion, self-story has significant supporters. ...
This article seeks to answer the question: What is God doing at this time of pandemic crisis in our Churches and communities? Through qualitative enquiry and the lens of liberation theology, data from Anglican parishes in South West England is explored and analysed. Four basic themes emerge: Bible, Liturgy, Lament, and Liberation; for each of these, rich data extracts are provided, including the author’s own account. I conclude that while it is much easier to ascertain what the Churches are doing, it still is possible to say something provisionally about God: that in the gaps between a search for meaning and the chaos and discomfort of actual experience, God may be opening to humankind a glimpse of a different life. A reorientation towards care for the vulnerable neighbour, and new models for community may provide the hope that resurrection follows the darkness of crucifixion.
It would appear that education in health sciences is currently focused primarily on instilling effective scientific, cognitive and technical competencies in health professionals and practitioners;
it is not according the same level of importance to personal, relational, ethical and moral competencies. This review supports the quest for greater balance in biomedical and healthcare
education by incorporating social sciences and humanities. It also argues that this is an urgent teaching and training task, especially in the developing world (Africa, Latin America and Asia). It
is of critical importance to understand that matters of health and disease/illness are not only about the ‘disease in the body’ but also about the ‘disease in the body of the person suffering’,
and that these two ways of knowing (epistemologies) or world-views have different implications in the health sciences education process. Lastly, as an ethics of care, the understandings afforded by these more inclusive approaches of the social sciences and humanities should not be a privilege
confined to medical schools.
This article examines what happened within one Church of England primary school during an action research project concerning sexualities. No Outsiders aimed at exploring how teachers developed classroom practices that promoted greater inclusion of sexual minorities, at the same time as working to eradicate homophobic bullying and heterosexism. This examination engages current research methodologies, including post‐structural analytics and narrative ethnography, to consider the viewpoints of headteacher and researcher, with a particular reference to faith issues. Various intersections are considered – between different faith positions and between different theoretical approaches – to conclude that while there are risks involved in straddling critical boundaries, there are also benefits in terms of creativity and motivation.
This paper gives an example of the autoethnographic approach to research by examining the life of the author. The account considers her creative identity as a female nurse and life long learner from a white, middle class Northern Irish background. Autoethnography is a relatively new, and controversial, area of research. This paper evaluates the validity of the method with reference to nursing and nurse education. It concludes that autoethnography is a useful research tool, which provides personal insights, which can provide meaning to others. This is particularly true when creative methods of expression are harnessed.
IntroductionPostwar conflictPhilosophical disputationsParadigmsHierarchiesIndividualismPragmatismResearching evidence for healthEvidence-based medicineCompeting perspectives of health and diseaseConclusion
References
Once again, editors Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln have put together a volume that represents the state of the art for the theory and practice of qualitative inquiry. Built on the foundation of the landmark first edition, published in 1994, the second edition is both the bridge and the roadmap to the territory that lies ahead for researchers across the disciplines. The Second Edition is a significant revision; in fact, it is virtually a new work. It features six new chapter topics, including, among others, auto-ethnography, critical race theory, applied ethnography, queer theory, and testimonies. Another fifteen chapters are written by new contributors. And every chapter in the book has been thoroughly revised and updated. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is necessary to re-engage the promise of qualitative research as a generative form of inquiry. The Second Edition of the Handbook reveals how the discourses of qualitative research can be used to imagine and create a free and democratic society. Ground-breaking, thought-provoking, comprehensive and featuring the contributions of a virtual "Who’s Who" in the human sciences, Handbook of Qualitative Research, Second Edition is absolutely an essential text for the library of any scholar interested in the art and science of research.
The author seeks to develop an ethnography that includes researchers’ vulnerable selves, emotions, bodies, and spirits; produces evocative stories that create the effect of reality; celebrates concrete experience and intimate detail; examines how human experience is endowed with meaning; is concerned with moral, ethical, and political consequences; encourages compassion and empathy; helps us know how to live and cope; features multiple voices and repositions readers and “subjects” as coparticipants in dialogue; seeks a fusion between social science and literature in which, as Gregory Bateson says, “you are partly blown by the winds of reality and partly an artist creating a composite out of the inner and outer events”; and connects the practices of social science with the living of life. In short, her goal is to extend ethnography to include the heart, the autobiographical, and the artistic text. This article provides a conversation with a student researching breast cancer that introduces issues in heartful autoethnography.
First published in 1895: Emile Durkheim's masterful work on the nature and scope of sociology--now with a new introduction and improved translation by leading scholar Steven Lukes.The Rules of the Sociological Method is among the most important contributions to the field of sociology, still debated among scholars today. Through letters, arguments, and commentaries on significant debates, Durkheim confronted critics, clarified his own position, and defended the objective scientific method he applied to his study of humans. This updated edition offers an introduction and extra notes as well as a new translation to improve the clarity and accessibility of this essential work. In the introduction, Steven Lukes, author of the definitive biography Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work, spells out Durkheim's intentions, shows the limits of Durkheim's view of sociology, and presents its political background and significance. Making use of the various texts in this volume and Durkheim's later work, Lukes discusses how Durkheim's methodology was modified or disregarded in practice--and how it is still relevant today. With substantial notes on context, this user-friendly edition will greatly ease the task of students and scholars working with Durkheim's method--a view that has been a focal point of sociology since its original publication. The Rules of the Sociological Method will engage a new generation of readers with Durkheim's rich contribution to the field."
Philosophical PositionGenerating Psychological TheoryPersonal Construct TheoryGuiltHostilityFurther Implications of Personal Construct Theory